GSA cancels this year’s Expo conference

Feb. 22, 2013 - 02:09PM
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The General Services Administration has suspended this year's annual Training and Expo conference because of tight budgets and reduced federal travel spending. It had been scheduled for May 14 in Orlando, Fla.. (Staff)

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The General Services Administration has suspended this year’s annual Training and Expo conference because of tight budgets and reduced federal travel spending.

The GSA Training and Expo Conference was scheduled for May 14 in Orlando, Fla..

GSA spokesman Dan Cruz said that, while the conference was a valuable way for procurement specialists to receive training and meet with vendors, budget concerns were more important.

“In the current fiscal climate, agencies and businesses alike have been forced to make tough spending cuts. After carefully reviewing the projected spending and attendance for this year’s conference, GSA is suspending Expo for 2013 in an effort to use our resources responsibly and to deliver better value and savings for our government partners, our vendors, and the American people,” spokesman Dan Cruz said in a statement.

The suspension is only for this year’s conference, not all future Expos.

Conference and travel spending has fallen since an April inspector general report detailed a GSA conference that cost $823,000 for 300 staffers and prompted the resignation and firing of top agency leadership.

In May, the Office of Management and Budget directed agencies to cut travel spending by 30 percent in 2013 compared with a 2010 baseline.

Agencies are also cutting back spending in the face of across-the-board budget cuts slated to take effect March. 1.